No, No and No! Mizerak did not play. He was an advisor/consultant to the organizers of this event. To get in the World Series of Tavern Pool, you had to be an "amateur" player with no recent history (three years I think) of playing and cashing in a tournament with an entry fee of $300 or more.
Harvey Mason (Jo-Ann Mason's dad) won it one year and the first prize was $15,000. Mizerak remembered him playing a couple of years before in the U.S. Open Straight Pool and cashing. They checked and found out it was true. He was disqualified!
I played the first year, when you had to win a local event first (easy) and then finish first or second in the Regional event to get a free entry into the main event. This was not so easy with 32 players who could all play. I played at the Mayfair Lounge in the same Regionals as Richie Florence. He won and I finished second. At the Nationals I made it thru something like 1,500 players to get into the final 64. Got a little over confident and the matches were very short (two out of three games, two out of three sets). I lost but still cashed pretty good. Richie went on to win the tournament, beating Willie Munson in the Finals. He won $25,000 and Willie got $10,000.
I think Ernesto won the 9-Ball Division that year, also 25K for first. They had two divisions, 9-Ball and Eight Ball, each with a $100,000 guarantee! We got paid on the spot too! The following year they hired me to be the head referee. Some kid named Carson Wiley won the High School division and got to play Dallas West (who won the Eight Ball) for an additional $5,000. I'm not sure who won but I know it was a close match and Dallas was sweating this straight shooting kid. CJ Wiley could play even then!
